As an avid baseball fan for my entire life, I seriously cannot remember a day that I wasn't, I was privileged and honored last night to watch the most devastating fastball pitching performance that I have ever seen.

Mind you I remember the the Ryan Express which was the setup pitch for the circle change. I remember "THE HEAT" of Rob Dibble who was the nastiest of the Nasty Boys. I remember a young Dwight Gooden's 100 MPH pitch as the setup for "LORD CHARLES" as it was called. I remember a young Roger Clemens ... Ryne Duren ... Sandy Koufax.

I have never seen anything like Aroldis Chapman.

If anything does him in it will be the way he challenges everyone to touch him up. Even though he is in possession of a knee buckling slider and a devastating change up ... last night he refused to use either of them.

Bought in for 1 and 1/3 innings of relief he threw 25 pitches ... all heat.

The lowest of the group was 100 MPH. I reviewed it again on DVR and averaged the speeds of the 25 pitches according to the Petco Park speed gun ... 101.96 MPH.

The piece de resistance was a 105 MPH record breaker, in combination with multiple 104 MPG record tying pitches. The prior king, Joel Zumays, has been dethroned. The king is dead ... long live the new king.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">SAN DIEGO – Aroldis Chapman(notes) was summoned from the bullpen one batter too late to make a difference in the game. No matter. The 22-year-old Cincinnati Reds left-hander made do by making history Friday night, throwing the fastest pitch recorded in a major league game, a 105-mph fastball.

Ardolis Chapman's 25 pitches on Friday night (each registering 100 mph or faster, including his record-breaking 105 mph heater) must have been a blur to Padres batters. ...

From Walter Johnson to Bob Feller to Steve Dalkowski to J.R. Richard to Nolan Ryan to Stephen Strasburg, blistering velocity is etched forever in baseball lore. Rush Chapman to the head of the list. Has anybody in the history of the game had a comparable 25-pitch sequence?

“I didn’t see it until the ball was behind me,” Gwynn said. “I was trying not to look at the radar reading because I’d be intimidated. I saw how hard he was throwing and just tried to be slow and work my hands.”

The 105-mph pitch was inside for a ball and evened the count at 2-2. Gwynn had fouled off the previous two pitches and fouled off the next before striking out. He ought to be pleased with his effort, forcing Chapman to make seven pitches, the slowest of which was 102 mph.

Gwynn’s father, Tony, a Hall-of-Famer and one of baseball greatest hitters, never saw a pitch as fast as the one Chapman threw. Maybe nobody else has, either. Since radar guns were introduced in the 1980s, the fastest pitch recorded was 104.8 mph by Joel Zumaya(notes) of the Detroit Tigers in a playoff game Oct. 10, 2006. Chapman, who defected from the Cuban national team in 2009, was clocked at 104 on Sept. 1 in his second major league appearance and also hit 105 mph with a pitch for Triple-A Louisville earlier this season. ...

Padres officials said the stadium radar gun is not known for inordinately high readings, unlike the Fox TV gun that recorded Zumaya at 104.8. <span style='font-size: 14pt'>Chapman had three other pitches Friday clocked at 104 mph.</span> ...

After defecting during a tournament in the Netherlands in July 2009, Chapman signed a six-year, $30.25 million deal with the Reds in January. It was widely predicted that he would sign a much more lucrative deal with a deep-pocket team such as the Yankees or Red Sox, but some teams backed off because of concerns about his maturity.

“We’ve got to make bold moves sometimes,” Reds GM Walt Jocketty said at the time.

Now the signing looks genius. And maybe by the time the playoffs begin, Baker will go to Chapman earlier, even with the bases loaded.

<span style='font-size: 17pt'>“When a guy is throwing that hard, you feel sort of helpless,”</span> Gwynn said. “We’re just glad we had enough runs to win before he came in the game.”</div></div>

He threw nothing but fastballs....but then, with that kind of speed, why bother with anything else???

The kid is amazing!

Steve

LWW

09-26-2010, 03:38 AM

What's even more amazing is that his mechanics are nearly perfect. They are more like Ryan and Gooden and completely dissimilar from Dibble and Strassburg (SP?) who had arm problems young.

LWW

sack316

09-27-2010, 11:08 AM

Little early for a Cooperstown mention... but a phenomenal talent for certain!

Sack

eg8r

09-27-2010, 02:39 PM

You might want to just give him some time and see what happens. There are many prodigies that look great for a short while and then something unexpected happens. I do admit though, watching Chapman and Strasburg pitch is very exciting.